FAYETTEVILLE -- It was just a benefit exhibition game, but had the feel of a Final Four contest with No. 14 Arkansas taking an 81-77 win over No. 3 Purdue Saturday in Bud Walton Arena.
It was an outstanding game the entire way. Arkansas' largest lead of the game, 37-28, came with 18:40 remaining in regulation. Purdue's largest advantage was seven, 12-5, came with 13:59 left in the opening half. Purdue's last lead, 71-69, came with 3:24 remaining in the overtime period.
Arkansas held Purdue to 39% shooting from the field, forced 20 turnovers, had 14 steals and blocked seven shots. All those stats had Eric Musselman wearing a wide smile afterward and said the numbers stood out.
"They do," Musselman said. "I thought a lot of the little things, the first half Purdue did a really good job of chasing down loose balls. A play would break down and we’d get a deflection and somehow they’d end up with it. But for a team that’s so brand new to play a team of that quality and have the crowd we had … It’s hard to score 81 points on Purdue. That’s not going to happen many times with them because their defense is so good."
The game was tied at 69 after regulation. After Purdue took the two-point lead in overtime, El Ellis and Tramon Mark took over. Ellis scored four points in a row and then Mark two to give Arkansas a 76-71 lead with 1:05 remaining. Purdue answered a 3-pointer to pull within 76-74 with 46.8 seconds left on the clock. Mark then hit one of two free throws for a 77-74 lead. After Purdue pulled to within two, 77-75, Arkansas finished off with four free throws.
Musselman talked about being able to close out a veteran team like Purdue.
"You know, we work on special situations so much," Musselman said. "Some teams in the summer just do skill. They do four-man skill, a lot of programs. We utilize our time where we actually practice and work on…I mean, we have a thing we took from the Dallas Cowboys called ‘Mojo Moments’ where we play some music that goes along with that movie and we yell out a situation and our guys have to execute. But we’ve got a lot of holes still. Certainly we had some empty possessions that we’ve got to try to get better."
Purdue Coach Matt Painter pointed to one area that he felt caused his team to lose.
" I thought, probably the difference in the game was our turnovers," Painter said. "Having 20 turnovers, I thought our inability to make shots at the rim in the second half. That stretch, last 6-7 minutes in the second half and then the overtime, we had the ball at the rim a lot. We had our hands on a lot of balls, we didn’t get them. So, you’ve got to give Arkansas credit.
"I thought they were just a little bit quicker and tougher when we had those 50-50 plays. But we have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball. And then we have to do a better job of defending. You know, you get down there at the end we foul a turnaround jump shot, we foul a pullup jump shot, we let a guy shoot a three when we’re absolutely not letting their guys shoot threes. We’re trying to run them off the line and then we have a common foul right there. So, you can’t let them steal points in those situations. If you’re going to get them to shoot tough two’s, you can’t foul them. And there we fouled them and you want them to earn points at that time."
Were the turnovers self inflicted or because of Arkansas?
"I would say both, but I thought Arkansas’ pressure was good," Painter said. "I thought they got after us and we were careless. We’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball."
Painter said the game felt like a Big Ten road game. Musselman didn't disagree with that.
"I think a couple things," Musselman said. "One, the turnout, the crowd, mid-season form the crowd was. To think that our season-ticket holders were not involved and we still sold the building out … It’s for a great cause, so that’s awesome, to be able to contribute to a cause, and we sold a lot of-season tickets. So that’s awesome.
"I think Coach Painter’s right. It was a crowd that certainly will help Purdue. It gave all of our new guys a taste of what it’s going to be like in our building. So that’s a great thing. I thought both teams treated the game like a mid-season game. It felt like an NCAA Tournament vibe to be honest."
Arkansas placed five players in double figures including Trevon Brazile and Tramon Mark with 15 points each. Khalif Battle and El Ellis each had 12 and then Chandler Lawson added 10. Is that many players in double figures something that we might see all season?
"I think so," Musselman said. "It may be a different guy every night. We really weren’t sure how the rotation would kind of shake out but really happy with what our guys did and tried to figure out sets on the fly. Because (Zach) Edey eats up so much space that it’s hard to get to the cup. And we really struggled, especially in the first half zero FTAs, the free throw attempt game. Tonight Purdue did a great job of defending us without fouling,"
The 7-foot-4, 300-pound Edey was held to 15 points and nine rebounds before fouling out in overtime. Lawson was one of the key players defending him.
"I think I talked about it, but we used basically the same rules that we did with Shaquille O’Neal where we tried to pressure the ball," Musselman said. "I thought that the high-low pass, we got a lot of deflections. Brazile had at least three. So we tried to smother the ball and then the other three guys that did not guard Edey, we tried to play a yo-yo game where you’re in-and-out and you’re stunt bluffing.
"I was pretty surprised the way that we executed it with only having…You know we had a long prep, obviously, but I was impressed with how our guys they made him work for every possession. And there were no clean entry passes, which was what we wanted. I thought our weak side tags were really good. We had a couple of steals on the weak side on their lob pass. He’s the hardest player in the country to guard a lob pass. I thought we did a good job crab walking him, as well, the guy that was guarding him. So a lot of positive things, for sure, guarding a team that’s got lethal shooters, good passers and five starters back."
Sophomore Joseph Pinion played six minutes and didn't make his only shot attempt. Freshman guard Layden Blocker was among the players drawing praise from Musselman. Blocker had six points on 3-of-4 from the field.
"Well I think that when the play breaks down or you’re in a one-on-one situation, can you beat your man to draw extra defenders?," Musselman said. "Devo (Davis) has that ability. T-Mark has that ability. El Ellis has that ability. I thought Layden Blocker played his minutes great tonight. Battle is a guy that we ran our one-up play and isolated him and he took a three and it hit the back of the rim, but it was straight on and it was a good look for him.
"We’re still evolving. Quite frankly, I didn’t know what to expect coming into the game. We get back to it on Monday and try to get better."
Edey and Davis dove for a loose ball and the Arkansas guard was helped to the sideline and didn't return.
"I think he’ll be fine, yeah," Musselman said.
Is he in concussion protocol?
"No, not to my knowledge," Musselman said.
Jalen Graham was once again street clothes and not able to play.
"Not close," Musselman said. "Been on the side and no timetable for a return. Back spasms. Have no idea if he'll be ready for the first game or the fifth game, but he's been pretty inactive. So, we'll just have to wait and see and continue to have our trainers and doctors to try and have the back be a little looser. More freedom of movement in the back."
Arkansas shot 51% from the field (30-59), 35 from 3 (8-23) and 76 at the charity stripe (13-17). Purdue, as expected, had a big advantage on the boards 42-28.
Arkansas will open the regular season on Monday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. when they host Alcorn State in Bud Walton Arena.
Photos Courtesy of Craven Whitlow CW3 Sports Action
